Yara Shahidi’s star keeps rising in many ways as she recently covered Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, donning pink feathered Chanel and a stunning, luminescent presence. The biracial beauty’s glorious curls are on full display throughout the editorial.

Shahidi spoke openly and honestly about what it’s like to be raised in a multicultural household. She believes that her heritage and background often lends itself to how she thinks and feels about the world around her.

Her family is from all over the world and in this way she believes it has opened her up to a true sense of empathy for and towards those all around the world.

Shahidi’s father is Iranian and her mother is African American. Her first language was actually Farsi and her cousin is the very first Iranian-American astronaut.

She comes from a family of ambitious and goal-seeking individuals.

This sense of identity and culture has spurred her on in her activist work. Global awareness and human rights causes are near and dear to her heart.